Читать книгу The Air Patrol - George Herbert Ely - Страница 10

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Bob never knew how long he lay unconscious on the floor of the gallery. When he came to himself he was in darkness: only the smoky atmosphere remained to bear witness to the reality of the torches. He rose dizzily to his feet, feeling sick and giddy as the result both of his blow and of the close air, and groped his way slowly to the entrance. There the cool breeze somewhat revived him; but he found it difficult to make his way past the obstacles which had given him no trouble before. To scale the fences cost much labour, and he was near fainting by the time he reached the house. Having no key with him, he had to waken the darwan who lay wrapped in rugs on his mat before the door. The man was much surprised to see him, but said nothing as he gave him admittance. Bob crept upstairs quietly; his uncle's door was open, and he managed to cross the room without waking him. Then he dropped on to his bed and nudged his brother.

"You're a juggins," said Lawrence rather unfeelingly, when he had heard the story. "That's the sort of thing they do in the school stories, when the bold bad bully climbs down the gutterpipe and sneaks off to the pub to play cards and swill swipes. But I say, you're not hurt, old man?"

"The whack on the head rather crumpled me up," replied Bob.

Lawrence was out of bed in a trice, lit his candle, and bent over his brother.

"There's a bump as big as a duck's egg," he said. "Jolly lucky your head's hard, old chap! Turn over, and I'll bathe it."

In getting the water-can he stumbled over his boots, making a slight noise.

"It's time you fellows were asleep, came a muffled voice through the door. Mr. Appleton had awoke, and fancied that the boys had not yet settled down for the night.

"Shall we tell him?" said Lawrence.

"I meant to wait till morning, but as he's awake--yes, I think we had better."

Lawrence opened his uncle's door.

"I say, Uncle," he said, "Bob fancied he heard burglars and went prowling without a knuckle-duster----"

"Go to bed," growled Mr. Appleton, only half awake.

"It'll keep till morning, but I think you had better hear it now. I'll tell you through the doorway while I bathe Bob's head."

"What's wrong with his head?"

When Lawrence explained how Bob had seen a glow from the window, in the Pathan section of the mine, Mr. Appleton sat up, now thoroughly awakened. He listened to the rest of the story in silence. At its conclusion he said:

"Just cut downstairs and tell that fellow at the door to hold his tongue about it. Why on earth didn't you wake me at once, Bob, instead of playing that schoolboy trick?"

"I didn't want to disturb you."

"That's all very well, though you wouldn't have hurt an old campaigner like me. You ought to have told me at once, and then we might have caught the rascal. I'm afraid there's trouble ahead, and I've a shrewd suspicion who's at the bottom of it. You didn't recognize the man in the gallery?"

"No; his back was towards me."

"What's it mean, Uncle?" asked Lawrence, returning.

"It means that some one--Nurla Bai, I fancy--suspects that I've found silver, or at any rate something better than copper. You remember how he'd been trespassing on the night you came. But how did he get across? You saw all the men off the premises at bugle call, Bob?"

"Yes."

"Then he's either in league with the sentry, or caught him napping, though I don't understand how Gur Buksh and his men could have slept through the groaning and creaking of the drawbridge."

"Perhaps it wasn't Nurla at all, but some one on this side," suggested Lawrence.

"I don't believe it for a moment. The Sikhs are perfectly trustworthy; the servants too; and the Babu, though as inquisitive as a monkey, is quite honest and knows nothing about ores--though I daresay he wouldn't own it. Look here! we must say nothing whatever about this matter. To refer to it publicly would only stir up unrest among the workmen, and might lead to disturbances between the Pathans and the Kalmucks. Each set would accuse the other. We must keep quiet for a day or two, and watch. You had better not show up to-morrow, Bob. To see you with your head bandaged would set every one talking."

"I shall be all right in the morning," said Bob.

"I hope so. By the way, you were struck from behind, you say?"

"Yes: there are evidently two men in it."

"So much the better. There'll be two quaking in their shoes, and we may be able to spot signs of guilt in their manner. Keep your eye on Nurla and Black Jack, who follows him like a shadow. You made the darwan understand he's not to talk, Lawrence?"

"He won't say a word, I'm sure."

"Then get to bed. I see you've bandaged Bob's head in a workmanlike way. Where did you learn that?"

"Ambulance work in the school cadet corps, Uncle."

"Ah! They manage things better than when I was young. Good-night, boys."

Bob found himself much better in the morning, and declined his uncle's suggestion that he should remain in bed. But his wound was too painful to allow of his wearing a hat, and his appearance bareheaded, and with a strip of sticking plaster on his neck just behind his ear, caused many curious eyes to be turned towards him. Only the Babu made any reference to it. Inquisitiveness was his failing, and he could never keep his tongue still.

"I perceive, sir," he said, "that you are not in your usual salubrity. Your countenance is pale, and I opine from patch upon your neck that all is not O.K. Pardon me, have you abraded the cuticle?"

Bob looked at him.

"Because, sir," the Babu continued with great deference, "I have in my store sticky plaster, powdered alum, gold-beater's skin, sweet olive oil, cold cream scented with roses, all things warranted to make epidermis blooming and good as new. Item and in addition, perhaps a little cooling draught may reduce inflammability and----"

"Oh, shut up!" said Bob, and the Babu went away smiling but sorrowful.

The three Englishmen went about their usual occupations as if nothing had occurred. They watched the workmen narrowly for signs of guilt, but could detect nothing. The Pathans were frankly curious and sympathetic; the faces of the Kalmucks were as expressionless as they always appear to Europeans. Nurla Bai, who was the special object of Mr. Appleton's attention, was inscrutable: there was no change in his demeanour.

Convinced that his assailant had in some way crossed the river in the darkness of the previous night, Bob was at a loss to guess how he had accomplished the feat. In the interval at mid-day, when the men had trooped across the drawbridge for their meal, he suggested to Lawrence that they should walk along the pathway to the ledge on which they kept the aeroplane, and see if there were some fordable place which had escaped their uncle's notice. On the way they examined every foot of the cliff below them. It rose sheer from the bed of the river, so steep and smooth as to afford no foothold for man or beast. Even if the river had been swum or forded, it would have been impossible for any one to climb up to the level platform on which the mine works were situated. Nor could the most hardy and adventurous stranger have approached from above, for the slope was too steep to give foothold to a mountain sheep. In the other direction, down-stream, access was equally impossible, and for a time both the boys felt thoroughly baffled.

At length, however, Lawrence made a discovery. In retracing his steps towards the plank pathway he climbed out upon a huge buttress of rock that projected some feet into the river.

"Take care!" cried Bob, feeling some alarm at the risk his brother was running.

"All right, old man," returned Lawrence. "It's rather a fine view down the gorge from here. You'd better try it yourself when your head's mended."

He picked his way carefully over the somewhat uneven rock, and had gone three parts of the way round its circumference when he suddenly stood fixed, staring at something in front and a little below him.

"By George!" he ejaculated in an undertone. Then he lay flat on the summit of the rock, wriggled forward to the edge, until his head projected, and peered downwards.

"What is it?" asked Bob from his position several yards in the rear.

Lawrence did not answer until he had crawled backward and once more stood erect.

"I've solved the puzzle," he said. "The fellows have got courage at any rate, and must be as agile as monkeys. There's a rope hanging down from the last beam,--down the cliff into the water."

"A rope!"

"Yes, one of our stoutest, cleverly stained so that it's hardly distinguishable from the rock itself. I caught sight of something swaying, and it took me a few seconds to be sure what it was. Whoever it was that knocked you on the head--Tchigin very likely--he must have climbed the rope, twisted himself up on to the planks, and so got to the mine. It's a trick I shouldn't care to attempt."

"But how on earth did he get to the rope from the other side? He couldn't have forded, and the strongest swimmer couldn't get across with the torrent rushing down at something like eight miles an hour."

"That wants thinking out. Meanwhile we'd better get back. If we were seen here we might put somebody on the alert."

"Yes. I tell you what: we'll cross the bridge and stroll up the other side; perhaps we may get a clue there."

They walked back without hurry along the planks, spent some little time in their respective sections of the mine, and then, taking their shot guns, crossed the bridge and walked up the narrow road as they had done many times before when shooting.

"I've been trying to work it out," said Bob as they went. "If I wanted to make for a particular spot on the other side, I should plunge in a good way higher up--you know, where the stream widens and isn't quite so swift. Then I should strike diagonally across and trust the current to carry me where I wanted to go."

"It would sweep you past. You couldn't be sure of hitting the rope."

"I don't know. We'll see when we get opposite it."

They sauntered on side by side, giving no signs of the carefulness with which they were examining the base of the cliff on the farther side. The bank beneath the road on which they were walking was not precipitous like the opposite cliff. Here and there the rocks shelved down to the water's edge, but there was no continuous perpendicular barrier.

Their course brought them presently opposite the buttress by which hung the rope. They did not pause, but as they strolled on Bob said--

"You see that in the angle formed by that buttress and the cliff there's a sort of backwater: not exactly a backwater, of course, but the force of the current is much diminished there. If a swimmer got to that point, he could make headway against the stream."

"That's just where the rope hangs. Did you see it?"

"No; I only took a passing glimpse. We'll turn in a few minutes and take a better look going back."

They went on. Lawrence shot a ptarmigan which would give colour to the ostensible object of their walk. Then they turned and retraced their steps. As they passed the buttress Bob looked carefully for the rope, and could just discern it by its slight motion against the background of rock.

"You might pass a dozen times and never notice it," he said.

Facing in the same direction as the current they were now able to take a more comprehensive view of the gorge.

"Where would you make your plunge if you wanted to swim across?" asked Bob.

Lawrence looked along the bank.

"There!" he said after a little, indicating a rock a few feet below and beyond them, that jutted out into the river.

"Well, let's go and take a look from there."

They left the track, climbed on to the rock, and sat down there with their knees up, flinging pebbles aimlessly into the water.

"I think you're right," said Bob. "Allowing for the strength of the current it's just about here that I should take the plunge. The oblique distance between this and the rope would make the diagonal--parallelogram of forces, you know."

"I don't suppose Nurla knows anything about that," said Lawrence with a smile. "But look here: don't these bushes look as if they'd been disturbed recently?"

He nodded his head towards some scrubby bushes at their right hand.

"You'd think so, certainly," said Bob. "Still, we may be wrong. I remember old Colonel Fanshawe warning us against the danger of seeing what we wanted to see."

After sitting a few minutes longer, keeping up the appearance of aimlessness by careless tossing of pebbles into the water, they rose and resumed their walk. But just at this moment Lawrence caught sight of a dark object among the bushes that grew sparsely on the hillside above the track, twenty yards away. At the distance, partially concealed by the foliage, the nature of the object was not apparent; but Lawrence clambered up by means of the bushes, and discovered a long coil of thin strong cord, lying between two inflated water-skins. He left them where they were, and returned to the track.

"It's clear as daylight," said Bob, when he had heard his report. "The fellow fastened the cord to the rock and held on to it when he took the water. He supported himself on the skins, and when he got to the other side, attached cord and skins to the dangling rope. When he came back, he hauled himself hand over hand against the stream, and pulled in the cord after him. That cord will, metaphorically speaking, hang the fellow, but he's clever enough to have deserved a better fate."

They returned slowly to the compound, well pleased with the result of their investigations.

A few minutes after they had gone, a small figure rose from among the bushes within a few yards of the spot where the cord was placed. Clambering up the hillside, and screening himself as much as possible behind clumps of vegetation, and by the natural inequalities of the ground, the little man made his way rapidly in the same direction as the Englishmen, and descended unseen among the huts of the Kalmuck miners. His narrow little eyes were gleaming with excitement. The men were just returning to work. The Pathans had already crossed the drawbridge; the Kalmucks were crossing. Black Jack pushed his way into the throng, apparently in a great hurry. He overtook Nurla Bai at the entrance to the mine gallery, and together they disappeared.

The boys lost no time in communicating their discoveries to Mr. Appleton.

"This is getting warm," he said. "We can do nothing yet. Act as though nothing had happened: to-night we'll talk things over. You're sure none of the men suspect you?"

"There's no sign of it," said Lawrence. "They saw us go, and come back with a bird: a very ordinary thing, that. I flatter myself that a Scotland Yard detective wouldn't have guessed from our manner that there was any other object in our walk."

The day passed like every other day. At sundown the bugle's note drew the men from their work. They returned to their several quarters, and after their evening meal settled down to their games of chance or skill.

After supper, when pipes were lit, Mr. Appleton returned to the subject.

"I haven't a doubt that Nurla is the man," he said. "You remember his industry when you were building your bridges. The scoundrel's motive is clear. The question is, what is he after? It can't be mere inquisitiveness. He suspects that the Pathans are mining something more valuable than copper, and if he can prove it, he'll sell his knowledge, I suspect, and we shall have trouble. I only hope that your appearance last night disturbed him before he had had time to get any samples."

"If it didn't?" said Bob.

"He'll probably try again. The fact that he hasn't absconded seems to show that he isn't satisfied. If he had got enough for his purpose he would have been over the hills before this. We must keep a strict watch, and if we catch him making any further attempt of the same kind it's the sack at once."

"Wouldn't it be best to sack him now?" Lawrence suggested.

"I'm rather loth to act without definite proof. We should make an enemy of the fellow needlessly, and he has such influence with the Kalmucks that he might call them all out."

"Would that matter? The silver's the thing," said Lawrence.

"Not at all. If I went on mining without them it would be a clear proof that I could afford to leave their gallery unworked, and there'd be trouble all the same. There'll probably be trouble anyhow, but I'd rather keep the Kalmucks working quietly as long as possible. Meantime we'll take precautions. I'll put a Sikh in the Pathan section to keep guard through the night, and withdraw him before dawn, so that nobody is any the wiser."

Early next morning, a few minutes after the bugle had sounded réveille, the Englishmen were disturbed in their dressing by the sound of a great uproar from across the river. They flung on their coats and hurried out. The drawbridge had not been lowered; half an hour would elapse before the bugle called the men to work. But at the farther end the Pathan miners had assembled, and were gesticulating in much excitement, shouting lustily for the huzur. Mr. Appleton ordered the drawbridge to be let down, and hastened across to meet the men.

For some time he found it impossible to gather anything definite from their frenzied clamour. Then, singling out one man as a spokesman, and bidding the rest be silent, he heard a startling story. Muhammad Din, the Pathan foreman, had been discovered in his hut with a knife in his throat. Mr. Appleton had a great liking for the man--a rough uncouth fellow, but an excellent workman and very popular with the men of his race. He at once gave orders that Muhammad should be carried across the bridge to the house, and announced that he would hold an inquiry after breakfast.

In knocking about the world he had picked up a knowledge of rough and ready surgery and medicine, and had more than once treated sick men. A short examination showed that the wound in the unconscious Pathan's throat was serious, though not necessarily mortal, and he set to work at once to cleanse it with antiseptic lotion and to bind it up. While he was still in the midst of this task, more surprising news was brought from the other side.

Quarrels between the Pathans and the Kalmucks had been so frequent in the early days of the settlement that Mr. Appleton had had to devise a plan for minimizing the risk of such outbreaks. The quarters of the two parties were separated by a neutral zone nearly a hundred yards in breadth, which they were strictly forbidden to cross. They used it in common only when going to and from their work, and then at different times, the Pathans leaving first and returning last. If a Pathan wished to go down the river, he had to climb the hillside and come down to the track beyond the Kalmuck camp. If a Kalmuck wished to go up the river, he had to make a similar circuit. The stables were placed in the neutral zone.

When the attack on Muhammad was discovered, and the Pathans rushed to the drawbridge, the Kalmucks were aroused by the din, and flocked to the fence marking the boundary line. But they were unaware of what had happened until their turn came to cross the bridge and they heard the story from the Sikh on duty. A few minutes afterwards, however, it was discovered that neither Nurla Bai nor his dwarf henchman was among their party. No sooner was this reported than the head stableman rushed excitedly across the bridge, to announce that the ponies on which the two boys had ridden to the mine had disappeared. These successive discoveries threw the whole community into a state of seething agitation. Instead of going to their work, the men gathered in groups, discussing the strange thing that had happened to their foreman. Already the Pathans were shouting accusations of Nurla Bai across their fence, and Gur Buksh with his armed squad stood ready to intervene if the wild passions of the miners led from recrimination to blows.

Mr. Appleton did not allow these events to interrupt his ministrations to the injured Pathan. When Muhammad, with his wound well dressed, had recovered consciousness, and was laid in one of the outhouses belonging to the domestic staff, Mr. Appleton and the boys returned to their rooms to finish dressing and breakfast.

"It's all as plain as a pikestaff now," said the elder man. "Nurla has got all he wanted; he must have guessed that he was suspected, and very wisely decamped. And he paid off his old grudge against Muhammad before he left. He's got your ponies too. That's what they call robbery with violence, I think."

"What shall you do, Uncle?" asked Lawrence.

"Go after him, of course. I couldn't otherwise hold the Pathans for an hour. They know I'm just, and as good as my word. If I tell them that Nurla shall be caught and punished they'll believe me and remain as quiet as Gur Buksh can keep them. Otherwise they'd desert in a body and hunt the hills themselves."

"Nurla's got a good start: it won't be easy to catch him," said Lawrence.

"You forget Bob's aeroplane, my boy," said Mr. Appleton.